OVTRK Forum on 1st April 2019 on
Decision-Making for the Wellbeing Budget Report
- from Adie Gray's presentation and from the four discussion groups
The One Voice Te Reo Kotahi kaupapa was supported by Mananui Ramsden leading us in a mihi whakatau to open the Forum.
Adie Gray, Statistics NZ Maori Partnership and Design Lead, then gave an overview
of links between the work of Statistics NZ, Treasury's Living Standards
and the capitals model of stocks and flows, which is also used by the
Conference of European Statisticians. She also spoke of close links
between Statistics NZ and the CDHB Wellbeing Index work noting there is a
rich source of data for decision-making.
She then addressed the topic of Challenging tokenism towards Decision-Making for the Wellbeing Budget noting that wellbeing is about identity. The question was posed: Who has the right to represent others?
The cards used for feedback in the consultation by StatisticsNZ asked people to respond to the question What matters to you? Here are people's comments.
Generalising
from such feedback from an individual or even a collection of
individuals, each of whom has their own unique context means that
aggregation of responses is at best fraught......
The
importance of naming was highlighted - for example, when a child's name
is changed by a teacher who is not proficient in the mother tongue of
the child.
These issues gave much food for thought for the discussions which followed Adie's presentation.
Adie emphasised that she would share with OVTRK the links from the Stats NZ work to date as soon as they were available.
Those links are now available:
- the webpage and first
draft suite of indicators that will populate the IANZ website in June,
now signed off by the Government Statistician: https://www.stats.govt.nz/
indicators-and-snapshots/ indicators-aotearoa-new- zealand-nga-tutohu-aotearoa/. - the findings from the engagement report: https://www.stats.govt.nz/
reports/indicators-aotearoa- new-zealand-nga-tutohu- aotearoa-key-findings-from- consultation-and-engagement
The
engagement report includes some interesting insights from the Te Ao
Maori reviewer and appraisers, which will drive a lot of the work and
direction in the next phase on which Adie is working. We note from that
Report that:
Incorporating
wellbeing from te ao Māori perspectives is seen as vital for Indicators
Aotearoa NZ. This will enhance the relevance and richness of the
indicator set for Aotearoa New Zealand. The idea of wellbeing is an
intrinsic and fundamental part of te ao Māori. A range of frameworks
define wellbeing outcomes from a te ao Māori viewpoint and capture the
essence of wellbeing in a holistic manner.
We
understand that Stats NZ is committed to further developing the set of
indicators to incorporate concepts of wellbeing from a te ao Māori
perspective. This development process will be led by te ao Māori in
partnership with Stats NZ.
OVTRK looks forward to getting further feedback on this development.
The 66 participants then broke into four discussion groups - economic, environment, cultural and social.
While acknowledging the connections between them, these four groups were chosen in anticipation of the Local Government Act being amended to restore those four wellbeings to the Act's primary purpose.
Here are some notes we have received from those discussion groups:
Economic - convened by Christine Dann
Environment - convened by Colleen Philip
Cultural - convened by Rina Singh
Social - convened by Liz Hawes
The verbal feedback on the night emphasised connections between the 4 wellbeings and similarities with all cultures upholding Aroha ki te Takata.
Co-designing the process, not just the outcomes, the central role of
mana whenua and of understanding the past as we move to the future were
highlighted along with the recognition of "nothing about whanau in their
environment without whanau in their environment". A paradigm shift was
seen to be vital so these synergies and connections, interdependencies
and relationships can be enacted.
In
closing the Forum, Mananui reflected on the aroha and understanding of
ecological values of participants and called on the need to feed this
knowledge to the world, noting how the wisdom of minds outside the
institutions leads to discussions which are really rich.
We look forward to the conversations continuing and will really appreciate any further feedback - send to <tsovoices@gmail.com>. We suggest this general topic of WELLBEING AND DECISION-MAKING deserves another local Forum...... ideas welcome!
Kia kaha!
The OVTRK team
The OVTRK team
